Ron Hart has way too much fun making sport of our enfeebled gerontocracy.
Even though Joe Biden could throw himself a successful surprise party, he is not the only one aging out in Washington. Senators Mitch McConnell and Dianne Feinstein are on their last legs. They have too much power for their parties to let them step down. Along with Biden, they have become Weekend at Bernie’s politicians.
Propped up by their lobbyists, staff and benefactors to perpetuate their power for the benefit of those who bought and paid for them, our gerontocracy shuffles on.
Maybe I am too hard on lobbyists. We need them. Who else would pay $550,000 for Hunter Biden’s artwork? “Three Dogs Playing Poker while Smoking Crack” art is in the eye of the beholder.
It probably does not matter how mentally impaired those in Congress are (Senator John Fetterman of PA comes to mind). With votes dictated by their party leaders, D.C. is shirts and skins; everyone votes as they are told along party lines. For years now, there has been no real debate or intellectual swaying of opinions.
Yet it seems none of these folks will let go. Power is too seductive and too compelling. When I worked in Washington while attending Georgetown, folks called Washington “Hollywood for Ugly People.” I did not get the joke until troll Alan Greenspan married NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell.
Henry Kissinger said it best: “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”
Let’s face it, few politicians have any other marketable skills. The difference between a prostitute and a politician? No one would walk up three flights of stairs at one in the morning to spend time with a politician.
Biden has the ability to hide his own Easter eggs, which then begs the question: who is running our government? Elected politicians or this permanent political class in Washington, D.C.? Clearly, with the actions of the DOJ, FBI, DOD and the medical/industrial complex, it is our unelected Deep State.
Forget term limits, what we need are hard and fast AGE limits for all Mordor on the Potomac ProPols. It’s no more than fair; if Americans in certain occupations other than politics can be required to retire at (usually) 70, then why shouldn’t politicians be subject to same? Say, forcible retirement at 65 and, for any who have been roosting in DC for a period of more than ten (10) years, a mandatory spend-more-time-at-home-with-your-constituents age of no more than 50.
As Insty quips: “Caligula sent a horse to the Senate. We just send part of the horse.” Myself, I think Caligula was really onto something there, although Glenn’s imputation would suit me just fine also. I mean, could it really be any worse than what we have now?
The real solution, of course, is to remove the excess of power, prestige, and bribe-money from the current seat of national government: disperse the federal bureaucracy entire out to various locations in the once-again-Sovereign States, then shrink FederalGovCo itself drastically, thereby removing the source of all temptation for the diseased, power-and-control-obsessed fucksticks who scramble to get themselves into position to succumb to it. But alas, that’s just another item on the long, long list of things that ain’t ever gonna happen, I’m afraid.
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“[W]ho is running our government? Elected politicians or this permanent political class in Washington, D.C.? Clearly, with the actions of the DOJ, FBI, DOD and the medical/industrial complex, it is our unelected Deep State.”
The permanent political class has been running things since 1937 – see https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1941&context=faculty_scholarship and https://cdn.mises.org/Peoples Pottage_2.pdf for details. The gerontocracy are a very well paid diversion and source of entertainment.
IMO, age limits solve nothing. There is no difference in Feinstein voting the way she is told than her replacement Kamala voting the same exact way.
You could make the age limit 40, and all you would get are <41 year olds voting the same as it’s done right now.
Term limits keep power from accumulating and at least have a chance of working, but only if sufficiently short enough. I’d make it two for congress and one for senate. Leave the president as is but add that no congressman can serve as president.
Oh look, the little downvote fairy discovered the laughing emoji. It can’t make an argument without lying so it thinks that will cause some harm. Pathetic. Just another pussy.
Saybo, do you wanna take a guess about who that maybo?
History rhymes…
That ones not too hard to figure is it?
There is a shortage of actual men.
Bo knows…
At the Federal level I think elected officials should be based like the military. Once you have held office for 20 years you can no longer run for office except for President or Vice-president. There should also be mandatory retirement at 65. They would have to complete 15 years of service to get a pension, any time less than 15 years was donated time. While running for office all financial accounts are frozen and if elected they stay frozen until one year after getting out of office. All siblings and immediate family has their final accounts frozen with the recurring deposits allowed but they cannot be increased, only decreased and changes cannot be made. All additional income such as book deals, speaking engagements, or selling property would be limited to a yearly $100k maximum. The same goes for immediate family. IRS audits for for all family and siblings while in office. An IRS forensic asset audit yearly and for 2 years after leaving office.
Also do away with airplane service for everybody except the President and Vice-president. They can ride military Space A with their priority behind active duty military, guard/reserves, and retirees or fly commercial in coach. Do away with lobbyist. This also applies for all federally appointed positions.
Might as well add “shred the constitution” to that list Tsquared79. Good or bad, almost all of that is completely unconstitutional, so you would need amendment to make it happen.
And what if I don’t agree to having my account frozen because the brother I don’t like runs for office?
Stuff like what has been revealed about many of the top people in elected office or the people they appointed would have had them resigning in disgrace before they were kicked out.
Nixon resigned in disgrace because he was told that the House was going to Impeach him and many GOP Senators were going to vote for Removal.
All for a petty two-bit break-in that had no consequential effect on the election and that Nixon probably had no knowledge of it until it hit the papers. The crimes committed today make Nixon look like a Choirboy who stole a piece of candy from the commissary when the Priest wasn’t looking.
Given that Deep Throat was Mark Felt, the second in command at the FBI, working with two neo-journalists who “wanted to change the world”, I consider it a real possibility the people who engineered the break-ins and the aftermath were trying to get caught and this was a Deep State sting on Nixon all along.
It is obvious that the people doing these things are unafraid of any consequences. Why should they be? No punishment has been meted out and in fact, they are all enjoying the ill-gotten gains of the criminal actions.
So, even if your suggestions weren’t unconstitutional why would you expect them to follow them anyway.
In fact, why would you think the same Corruptocrats who are committing the crimes would even PASS them in the first place?
Good point and with Nixon I agree 100%. In fact, knowing what we know now, I’m certain he was set up. He ended the deep state cash cow murder of 50K Americans, Vietnam. He had to go.